Fallout: Parallel Wanderers
by Monty Mason
Summary: This is the story of two wanderers who embark on their life journeys. One embarks on an adventure to come across the mysteries of the scorched home they call Earth and the other stumbles around in the past with his mind running in circles of depression. Join us on these two's adventures. *This is a co-written fanfic*
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello this is Monty coming in with another Fallout fanfic. But this time I'm co-writing it with a friend. So you will see two different Lone Wanderers' stories happening in this. I'm not going to give too much away but for those keen readers, I'll say that both of them do have some sort of relation to one another. My parts are written from the first person perspective where as my friend's parts are in third person. So that should help keep things clean for the readers, the first chapter shots both the wanderers, but from the next chapter onwards, it will be alternating between mine and my friend's. Anyways we do hope you enjoy reading this fanfic and have fun...also please forgive any mistakes in the fallout lore we may come across (personally for me it's been a long time since I played fallout 3 and New Vegas =D). So please read and give back constructive feedback on what we can do to improve and what things we did good. Thanks!**

**Monty and Quwack**

**Disclaimer: The rights to Fallout and its respective properties belong to Bethesda, thanks for bringing us such kick ass games over the years guys! X)**

A lone traveler walks up to a roadside tavern, his poncho flutters in the cold Mojave night. Opening the door, he felt a sensational blast of warmth and cheers rush at him. The men inside were busy indulging themselves in a joyous celebration. The lonesome wanderer walked in and sat at the bar, took his hat off, keeping his bandana on. And he ordered a drink, not bothering with the festivities.

"So, cowboy," said a feminine voice of someone sitting next to him, her accent very southern, "Why aren't you celebratin'?"

He sighed. He didn't want to deal with her right now. "Shouldn't you be protecting your husband while he delivers water to those poor, poor people affected by the war, Rose?"

Rose of Sharon Cassidy looked slightly offended, even if the subtle insult was not directed at her. "You know, if his great great granddaddy ever thought he needed protection, he'd come out of his grave and knock him out 'imself!"

* * *

"In nuclear war all men are cremated equal."

~ Dexter Gordon

Cremated equally? If there was such a thing, then why would I still be here? This god-damned cruel world...I hate it; I hate it at how it spits at me in the face and leaves nothing but this harsh wasteland for me to call "home".

I still remember the day it all started; the day we faced the greatest threat in humanity's history. Nuclear war was predicted to be our own undoing, but clearly, as I'm standing here in the midst of two raiders; both pointing pistols to my chest, that prediction was very much so wrong. The two raiders threaten me to give them my armor and my weapons, or something like that, but all I hear is how pathetic humanity really is. Even in a time like this, where we all have to band together, we would still turn on each other like wild animals. In times of chaos, they call it "betrayal". In times of peace, they call it "Politics" So what is the point of our intellect if all we do is indulge ourselves in meaningless violence? What's the point of me having my intellect if all I would do is take out my gun, shoot and walk away from these two idiots? Just what the hell stopped us from getting cremated all equally? That's right, the vaults, the damned holes in the ground that prevented humanity from getting its rightful punishment, instant death. There is no happiness here; there is only death around every corner I look.

The bandit brandishes his pistol around my face, making pointless and meaningless threats as the other one checks the clip in his. You're all so blind to the reality around you. That's what I really want to say to these two bandits, but I know that their skulls are far too thick for my words to get through.

* * *

The man snorted. "Probably couldn't get through his thick skull."

Cass looked concerned. "Are you ok? You seem a bit… off."

The bartender chose that exact moment to arrive with a pint of beer. The man sighed at his own forgetfulness, he had wanted a soda. 'Oh well' he dismissed his own mistake.

He took a big gulp. It looked like piss, it tasted like piss, it was probably half piss.

Yummy.

Cass looked surprised, 'Did I just see him drink beer?' she pondered as she rubbed her eyes. And he did it again!

* * *

"Come on man, don't make this any harder than it has to be!" shouts the bandit brandishing his pistol in my face, he was clearly fed up with me ignoring him.

"Yeah! Or we will mess you up good!" speaks the other one, as my eyes subtly and carefully move alternating between the two and their weapons.

* * *

"Ok, now I know something's wrong when I see YOU drinkin'," Cass said.

The man just glared at her.

"But," she continued, "I might have something to cheer you up."

"I'm listening," he half lied.

"An adventure of sorts."

"Lemme guess; it's full of raiders, feral ghouls," he counted them off on his hands," Legion remnants, Enclave remnants, mutants, flying bullets, flying body parts, and other deadly things?"

* * *

'God, someone please make these idiots shut up before I have to really hurt them!' was the thing I repeated through my mind, almost like a mantra. It always disappointed me that for all our intelligence, we're so daft and thick headed...that I'm so daft and thick headed and that I'm still going along with it! It tainted me more then I already was! That corruption which killed off my emotions of happiness, it only left a blank spot, a dark hole, with loneliness as my only companion; the only thing to fill it with was the rage, the anger.

I jump forwards at the bandit pointing his gun towards my head, once I saw his friend pulling the trigger. But he opted to fire too late! I'm already holding the gun of his partner. A couple more gunshots ring through the air, but the bullets hit his buddy instead of me. Red shoots out of his stomach. It's so fluid, the sun's reflection visible in the liquid which keeps us alive, blood.

* * *

"Maybe..." Cass said with a clearly exaggerated tone.

The wanderer slid his drink to Cass and said, "Then I'm in!"

Cass grinned. "Now there's the guy I know. Meet me in Goodsprings tomorrow, high noon. Bring someone along if you can."

The man just nodded, and walked out of the bar, back into the cold Mojave night he had emerged from earlier.

'Bring someone, eh? Hmm…' thought the man. Now he had to get across the entire country in just 12 hours…

* * *

I ran closer, still holding the man as a shield as the raider fires more shots, not caring that, with every bullet, his friend's death is being desecrated in the process by his own hands. The air becomes saturated with blood. He continues firing, until all his gun shouted was an empty _click_. His eyes widened with the realization of death approaching him, it was so close...just inches away from him and I grin.

* * *

Several hours later (or rather, before) a certain Veronica Santiago was in the basement of the Citadel, working on integrating the Zeta power modules into plasma weaponry. Of course, it wasn't going as planned. She was freezing and frustrated, as some _idiot_ Knight had turned on the air conditioning, saying she was hot. And now the alien tech wasn't working as it should. The Scribe threw up her hands in air, saying, "Oh, damn it all!"

A hand caught hers by surprise.

* * *

I reach for my shotgun as I throw aside the dead body, and look down the sights of my gun.

_Bam! Crack!_ One in the leg.

_Bam! Crack!_ This one hits him in the shoulder.

I fire one last shot, his grey matter exiting his skull with bits and pieces flying through the air as I think, 'I'm no longer something that can be even called 'human'...none of us are humans, there is no such thing as being human in this world'.

* * *

"Your hands are cold," said a familiar voice.

She raised an eyebrow. "So are yours. Did you come here to warm me up?" She teased.

He chuckled. "I wish," the blonde replied with an equal amount of humor in his voice. Although, maybe not entirely humor…

_NO. STOP. Think of a wall._

"Then what are you here for?" Veronica asked with that confidence she bore around her almost all the time.

* * *

The bandit lay dead on the ground as I breathe the cool air around me. The taste of my enemy's blood covers my lips. Just why the hell are we so messed up that we can't learn to just not hate each other? Isn't it our feelings that create the hatred? Isn't it that hatred that goes on to push people's ideals a bit too far and push them to one thing people fear and crave most?

I look around the wasteland for anymore threats that may be present finding none, just the usual animals wandering about. I lowered my weapon, strapping it back on my shoulder, and continue on in my own wanderings.

As I walk past the bandit I notice something on one of his arms.

* * *

"Want to go on a little... adventure?"

* * *

"A pip boy?"

I had first heard of these in the vault, but never got one of my own for some stupid reason. Well, better time as any to get one now, and thus I carefully removed it from his arm, cleaned it to ensure a comfortable fit. As I slid my arm through the device I felt pins prick at my skin as the device attached itself to my arm, the word, "Calibrating…" appearing on the screen. After moments of this, it displayed many things, like my condition, or the items that I was carrying. It even had a built in targeting system and radar!

* * *

Veronica stood up, stretching. "Sure, why not. Maybe you'll get me another dress?"

The wanderer shrugged. "Sure, why not?" _You looked beautiful in the last—_

_**WALL.**_

* * *

I don't know what sorts of adventures wait for me out there; after all, I've already had several filled with regret, emotions of rage and loneliness in my mind. But even after all of that, I want to continue living, I choose to continue living...are these feelings, this pain the price I'm paying for making my choice to live? Just what the hell am I alive for anyways? All I do is kill, eat, drink water, sleep and repeat it all over again the next day. Please...just someone please tell me. What the hell am I still alive for?

**(A/N) Hello, this is Monty's mysterious co-writer; you can just call me Quwack.**

**My parts are written in 3****rd**** person, generally from the perspective of a blond 23 year old wearing a bandana and Monty's are the relatively grim 1****st**** person perspective parts.**

**I hope you enjoy the story! Also, please review. It hurts my pride, and Monty's as well I suspect. We like getting feedback, so we can improve on things and make it even better for our awesome readers X).**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here is chapter two in our fan-fiction. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: We own no rights to Fallout, they belong to their respective owner(s) Bethesda.**

"That's strange…" Someone had taken one of his stealth armors. Then again, he did tell Gallows that he could use them…

With that mystery probably solved, the Lone Wanderer went to a different part of the armory; creatively called "Weapons Storage". He picked out his old Model 1911, and took a few more clips for his R-91. As an afterthought, he took the Model 1903 Springfield off the wall also.

Veronica, of course, had already chosen her weapon and armor while he checked how his crew were doing. Predictably, her armor consisted of a potato sack and her weapon was that power fist she carried everywhere.

He frowned. She should at least wear some combat armor, like he was.

_Or that dress._

Before he could slam his head into one of the alien metal walls, he heard a voice behind him say, "Are you done taking forever?"

"You know, I actually like to—

"Wear a glorified spandex suit," she said, smiling (_the most gorgeous smile ever)_

He frowned. "Underneath my U.S. Ranger Battle Armor. More protection than you're wearing."

Rolling her (_beautiful)_ brown eyes, she walked away. The Lone Wanderer blinked.

Did he really just…?

He quickly grabbed his trench knife and followed the scribe the to teleporter. She had already put the coordinates in for Goodsprings. However things aren't necessarily meant to go as planned always.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Nothing," the Wanderer said as he pressed the button that commenced teleportation.

The pair felt the familiar vertigo that always came with teleporting, and found themselves right outside the town of Primm.

"Hold on…" said the former Vaultie, fiddling with his Pip Boy.

Out of nowhere, a certain Experimental-Duraframe-Eyebot flew out, it was beeping as though it was speaking, but it just sounded like gibberish. It stopped right next to its master and the scribe.

"Hey EDE!"

"Hi!"

They were answered with beeps, which the Pip Boy translated to roughly: "Hi"

"So, where you been—

Veronica's question was answered by the eyebot firing a few lasers, which meant, "I killed some things."

"So, why didn't you teleport us to Goodsprings again?"

The Wanderer shrugged. "I like walking with you I guess." It was better than walking with drunken Cass, or Grandma. Besides, the moonlight made her look—

_Remember the Wall!_

After an awkward silence of a few seconds, Veronica had the brilliant idea of putting on music. "Hey EDE, put on something that fits the mood. You know, something upbeat, or—

"I'm tickled pink, that things are rosy, and skies are blue once again," the little bot played.

"Yeah, like this! This is good!"

"This song is pure nostalgia…" said the Lone Wanderer. But why would EDE play this song?

…Wait a minute.

"When I will pop the question, and you say ok! Say then we'll be married in the month of May!"

"Stop singing," said a message from the immature robot.

Asshole.

EDE, sensing that his master was getting angry, changed the song.

"Karma Police, arrest this man, he talks in maths,"

It didn't take long for the Wanderer to start singing along with the amazing song. Veronica joined in too, adding her (angeli- WALL) voice to the music, and the odd trio continued up the road.

Eventually, they reached Goodsprings.

"So, where are we staying?" Asked the scribe.

"Hmm… Gas station, maybe? That or the mantis infested school."

"To the gas station!" Veronica cried as she grabbed the Lone Wanderer's arm (_her hands are still cold_) and pulled him into the old Petrol Chico. The Pip Boy light was turned on, and the two realized their grave mistake: They forgot sleeping bags, or any kind of blanket, unless you included the Wanderer's olive green poncho.

"So… Huddle for warmth?" Veronica asked, trying to sound as innocent as possible. The Vaultie's eyes widened. Oh no.

_Be quiet and be a man; there's men out there that would die to cuddle with her, if you know what I mean._

'And they are all lucky I don't beat the snot out of them.'

_Afraid someone's going to steal your girl?_

_SLAP!_

Veronica Santiago blinked. "Did you just… Slap yourself?" and he nodded, as she burst out in laughter. "…Fine," he said.

Hours later, the Lone Wanderer was standing outside the gas station, wondering where he could get some armor, at the very least some light armor for Veronica. "Chet's too expensive; Gun Runners is too far away… Hmm…" the Wanderer thought out loud.

"What'cha talking about?" said the Scribe behind him, who then yawned. "Getting me another dress already?"

"Wouldn't you rather live to wear a dress another day? Those rags have about the same armor qualities as a thinly cut piece of cheese." He didn't turn around. She scoffed. "Again? You know what I've got under these robes?" He could feel his cheeks heat up.

_Armor, she means armor, relax._

"Hopefully armor?"

"Come see for yourself." She lured the Wanderer in. He turned around, suddenly feeling really stupid.

"Chinese Stealth armor."

So that's why one of my spares was missing…

"Damnit!" Veronica said, uncloaking. "You could have _acted_ like you didn't see me."

"V, you know that there's a reason I wear armor over that?"

She took off the helmet, raising and eyebrow. "Why Wanderer, this doesn't make me look good?" _On the contrary, it's given you an excuse not to hide your beautiful hair…_

"It, uh, doesn't leave much to the imagination. I don't want to step in the drool of the guys ogling you." His Pip Boy suddenly lit up, and he looked down at it. "You just don't want any competition." she flirted.

"Note to self," he said aloud. "Throw many rocks at EDE later."

"Why?"

"Nevermind. We have to go to the saloon now to meet Cass and start our little adventure."

"Ok, just let me get my stuff."

With that, she ran inside the gas station.

And came out 3 minutes later in her robe. "Have you seen my hood?"

"What? I thought the hood was part of the robe?"

She bit her lip. "It was…"

"…Has it ever occurred to you that you shouldn't hide your hair?" and that earned him a glare. "You're the worst."

He clutched his chest. "Thy unkind words hast wounded mine soul," he spoke in old English. "It's not funny, help me find it!" she said and the Wanderer replied simply with, "Nope."

"Fine, if you don't, I'm taking your bandana and using that instead."

"I'll go check the gas station, see if you missed something!"

She smiled. "Good."

However, after an hour of searching, they had not found it, and were late to their meeting with Cass.

"So, you're late, and you didn't bring anybody. What are you, deaf?" Asked the annoyed Rose of Sharon Cassidy.

"Actually, I did bring Veronica, but she somehow lost her hood last night…"

"How? In'it part of the robes or somethin'?"

He nodded.

Cass whistled. "Must have been a pretty 'exciting' night, then?"

"Are you implying something, Rose?"

"You know damn well what I am 'implying'."

He rolled his eyes. "You and me both know—

"That what?" She asked. "She 'swings that way'?"

He just shrugged.

"Bet you cry yourself to sleep every time you hear that."

The Wanderer looked indignant. "I do not. I'm simply saying that such a thing would be impossible between us—

"Even though you really want it to happen. Don't worry," she grinned, "I understand."

"I'm this close to punching you, Rose."

"Ooo," interjected a random regular to the bar. "He's gettin' defensive."

"I am NOT!"

(A/N) XD Quwack here. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! You better damn review…

Please?

Next chapter will be Monty's part.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Here is chapter three to the co-written Fallout 3 fanfic. This chapter was written by Monty.**

**Disclaimer: The Fallout franchise rightfully belongs to Bethesda games.**

"Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living."

~ Omar N. Bradley

Hahaha, I couldn't agree with that more. At least I know for myself...I now know far more about killing than living. I find myself wiping blood off my face every two hours.

I scrolled through the Pip-Boy I had recently picked up and looked at the map, seeing that several locations were available, I decided to pursue to the location labeled as Megaton. According to the map, I was at the Fairfax Ruins currently, and it was quite a ways to my next location.

"Better start making tracks" I thought out loud as I started walking past the pile of bodies in my sights. 'Peace' was the term which struck my head as I saw each body go pass by me. There is no such a thing as peace when we know more about war than the idea of peace itself. I carry guns, not flowers...I carry dark and angst filled thoughts, not happy and carefree ones. I know how to shoot a weapon, not shake hands and let bygones be bygones...at least not anymore.

So what exactly is my purpose in life? I used to have a good life before the nukes fell...I wasn't a freak. The day of the nukes was my own undoing, it was the cause for my change, and it was the pin which stuck me to wishing for the past to return like a rushing wind. Where did I go wrong? Did I make a mistake in living?

Everyone I cared for...dead. Everyone I loathed...dead. And now everyone is just nothing to me, I find no meaning in bonds. There is no such thing as "companionship". I see married couples from time to time and I think, 'Are you idiots? How can you trust one another? What happens if one of you stabs the other in the back...betrayal is something these humans don't know about as well as I do' but wait.

Why do I say humans? Why don't I say people? Do I detest humanity so much that I want to detach myself from the concept itself? I walk a broken highway road as I stare at the caravan passing by. The lady looks at me, stops, walks towards me as I stop, waiting for her approach. She offers out something in her hands, a nuka cola. This, I remember, was quite a popular drink back in the days when humanity first started to resurface; it was popular primarily due to its health effects. But it was just as irradiated as almost everything else.

None the less I took it, but why offer such kindness in such a time of savagery? I asked her this very same question and her answer was a simple smile. I was left speechless; there was nothing to be said...after all, what could I say? I looked at the bottle and looked at the woman walking away with her caravan, humming a tune. I simply store it away and continue walking.

I've seen many terrible things since the nuclear fallout. I've seen the true distortions in humanity which causes our intellectuality to decrease and our blood thirst to increase. In this world I'm a distortion, why? Because I kill, I take my enemies belongings for my own and I take comfort in the fact that if someone has to die, then let it be the other guy.

This is so twisted...I'm so twisted. Twisted beyond reasoning, twisted beyond saving and when I look out in to the dark world I travel in. I look for a saviour, a guiding beacon of light, but there is nothing...not even a sliver of it is present. The only thing that's present is the hatred, rage and the corruption, all of which define me, and the rest of humanity.

How long has it been since I've departed for my destination? That's right, about an hour or so. I come into the remnants of a destroyed town, no living soul in sight...or at least so I thought. _Click!_ I hear a gun pushed against my back. 'Not again...' the thought races in my mind. This was the third time someone tried to kill me from the back to jack my gear.

I stop in my tracks and slowly let my hands rest by my waist, where on my right side rested a knife. "Hands...up, now!" ordered the bandit, but all I heard was cowardice in his voice.

"You deaf or something?!" shouted the bandit.

Why is it we're all a distortion? I mean we who hold guns and say it's for self defense, but in reality even if we do use it for self defense; we are no less guilty of the crime of murder than those who admit to murdering.

I quickly reach for my knife by my side. Humanity is dark, it's lost like a little lamb separated from a larger herd of life and it's worthless! I think as I quickly turn around, unsheathe my knife and _slash!_ I see a distortion before me disappearing into the deep abyss of death.

I smile knowing I've committed a murder, but I've also ridded this scorched world of another distortion. We're the beings that scorched this world, and we're the very beings that are the distortions, a contradiction to ourselves. The bandit falls to the ground; he lies there restless now. He came to rob me, then kill me after making false promises, but I did the deed first. I'm nothing more than a murderer and a contradiction to myself and humanity's existence.

The slit on the bandit's throat starts to clear out as I can almost see the inside of his throat; I smirk to myself thinking 'Am I a lunatic? I mean...I know better… don't I? I used to talk about a violence free world, true peace and now I engage in the violence I loathed and rejected even if it were a matter of survival.' I bent down beside the bandit's body, 'So what changed?' I questioned. My fist suddenly clenched into a ball of hatred as I recalled her face, "The betrayal…." I spoke out loud. "It was this whole god damn nuclear rain that changed everything, and all I could do was stand by, watch it all happen while I turned into this monster."

Some question my existence. How can I be alive for hundreds of years after the nukes fell? While it may seem ironic, it in fact were those same nukes that granted me this ability...a curse to stay alive this long, even though they took everything and everyone away I knew. I can remember it clearly in my head, the bright red sky as the air was heating around me. A storm cloud of radiation was approaching; I stood there in the cave beside a vault door. I had failed to make it there to enter the vault in time, when the radiation cloud approached, all I could remember was blacking out. Then I woke up inside the vault, being told that they checked outside after two days of enclosure to scout for any 'human' survivors.

They had put an emphasis on the word human, it was clear monstrosities were created out of this event, but to those monsters we called, "Ghouls" we would be monsters ourselves.

I rub my eyes trying to block out the past, it brings back bad memories of her. She was there with me and we could've survived together to this day, but only if she hadn't been afraid to face the inhuman, if only she wasn't afraid of immortality. Suddenly I punch myself hard in the jaw as I fall back, but I still remember memories of her.

"Ugh...punching myself didn't help in knocking out these memories", I complained. I got up off the ground as I dusted myself off, took the ammo the bandit carried on him and stored it safely in my rations as I checked my Pip-Boy. I was close to Megaton now. I look forward, and could now see it.

_**Two hours later...**_

I reach the main gate of Megaton, and I see an old man near the gates begging for water. I know in my heart that giving him some water would be the right thing to do as the standard is set by humanity, but survival has proved otherwise. I walk up to the old man; he notices the knife by my side and the guns I carry. "Please don't kill me!" he shouts pleading for mercy. I take a hold of the nuka cola bottle the woman had given me and hold it out towards him. He looks at it from one side of his eye and then lowers his arms from his head. He looks at me suspiciously, and I simply keep the bottle held out towards him. "Why?" he asks.

"I don't know" I reply as I simply keep the bottle held out. "I guess it because I just want to," I explain, shrugging my shoulders. The old man reached out for the bottle, slowly taking it from my hands. What is this feeling? My chest feels heavy? Is it because I'm doing something out of my own will? I'm helping someone without anything in it for me; this was completely strange, even by my standards.

The old man smiles, he is smiling at me? For the first time in ages someone smiles at me because of something I did. They show gratitude to me because of my kind actions...does that mean even I, a cold hearted murderer still has some humanity left in myself?

He takes the bottle, holds it close to himself and says two words I haven't heard in a long time.

"Thank you"

I gasp a little, taking a step back. This foreign feeling in my chest, it's too much to handle… why? Why? Why?! Why is it persevering, why is it staying?!

I walk away from the man towards the gate leading in to my destination. The robot at the door greets me and verifies my purpose for my visit as well as gives me a little back story on Megaton. I look back at the old man as the door closes behind me, "Why can't he come in?" I wonder out loud. A voice answers my question, "Because he chooses not to". I turn around to look and found a man wearing a cowboy hat, he had a rifle on his back and wore what looked like to be a sheriff's star on his chest. "The name's Simms, Lucas Simms stranger" the man introduced himself to me. I simply remained quiet, which he didn't mind, and he said, "Just don't cause any trouble and we'll get along fine, I run this here fine town called Megaton. Disrespect the law and you disrespect me." he stated in a very stern tone.

I nodded in understanding, all the while ready to unsheathe my knife and cut his throat, leaving him to die. But I knew better than to go against a town's "mayor", was I to make such a stupid move, everyone would be on my ass and I would without a doubt be chased out of Megaton with a large bounty placed on my head. I asked Lucas for directions around Megaton and one of the people he had mentioned I should see if I was looking for some work was "Moria Brown". She owned a general goods store shop which wasn't too hard to find in this small town.

I opened the door and was immediately greeted with an explosion, and me being pushed on to the floor. A woman's body lay on top of me, and I noticed she wore overalls suiting to a mechanic, and her hair was tinted with orange and hazel yellow eyes. She looked up towards me slowly realizing she was lying on top of me.

"I'm so sorry, one of my experiments went horribly wrong," she apologized in a very energetic and positive manner.

'What a strange woman' was the thought that ran through my mind, I would've said it too had it not been for the fact that she had some work which needed to be done. I picked myself up off the hard metal floor as I slowly followed her to the counter that served the customers, she looked back at me and questioned my presence in her shop, was I here to barter or look for weapons repair? She would ask me.

"Is Moria Brown around? I'm here for a job Lucas Simms mentioned she might have," I spoke calmly, trying to forget the incident which had occurred recently.

"Oh that's wonderful!" she spoke even more excited now, so this was Moria Brown I deduced. "By the way..." I began catching her attention, "how come you're covered in soot?"

"Oh that, well one of my experiments went kinda wrong...but only a little," she spoke, but the trail of smoke coming in from the room to my left spoke a different story. She quickly went and closed the door to the room and put on an innocent face, she wasn't fooling anyone. Surprisingly, other customers seemed to be fooled by her act, like nothing was wrong at all, 'What the hell is wrong with these people?' I thought taking note of the extents of their ignorance. "Anyways, what did you say name was?" Maria questioned me as I remained quiet, covering my eyes with my hat. I didn't want to let anyone know anything about me, but why was that? Was it because I was afraid of what happened in the past with her? Of what she did to me after finding out about my 'condition', or perhaps was it for another reason, one beyond my comprehending?

"Well fine, be all loner like and keep to yourself if you want to, but I doubt we would ever get very far in our relationship," she said all pouty. Relationship, what relationship? "What are you talking about?" I asked as she quickly answered back, "In our working relationship silly!"

This woman was obnoxious and annoying, and I couldn't stand the sight of her. She reminded me too much of her, way too much of my past. I quickly snapped back at her in trying to hold back my distaste of her, "What's the job?" and she jumped back a little by the force behind my words. "R-right, I need you to travel into an abandoned town and get an old artifact for me."

"Artifact?" I questioned.

"Yup! It might be the key ingredient to what I was trying to do when you walked into my shop," she explained and I nodded, accepting the job. She uploaded the details to my Pip-Boy. I read over the mission carefully and absorbed the mission objectives. I started to leave the shop but was quickly stopped by her, holding out a key. I raised an eyebrow. "This is a key to a room I normally rent out in my house, but you can stay free of charge for as long as you're running errands for me," she spoke with a wink.

I took the key as I waved back in respect and walked up towards the address she gave me, I opened the door to her house and walked into the room she had indicated. I found a tidy room with a bed and a locker available in there, so I took this opportunity to get rid of some extra gear I had been lugging around with me. I could sell it later if I wanted to, but right now it was just dead weight. Storing away the extra gear in the locker and putting the rest on the bed, I went into the washroom, turned on the sink; thinking about how so few had the luxury of getting clean water here in Megaton and how Moria was one of them. She made enough to pay for the pure water and get by all the same.

I let some water build up in my hands as I splashed it on my face. Feeling its refreshing cool, I felt alive again; water was a poison and a cure all the same. It gave us the will to live on, yet radiated water would kill us all the same. Death...it's the only thing the wasteland offered, wasn't it? Even the most essential thing to life will take it away…but then, what was that kindness from that caravan lady? And what was that kindness from me? My chest felt heavy as I remembered giving away the nuka cola; just what the hell was that? I never acted like this before, so why now? Is kindness like a virus? One that you get touched by, you just want to pass it on with kind acts of your own, thus creating a string and a trail of kindness in your wake.

The drops of water flow through my unshaven face, small hints of beard are appearing on my jaw as I run my fingers through the hair. I look around for a razor; I find one by some basic skin care products. Running hot water over it and over my face, I start to shave slowly, so as to not break into the skin and risk infection. Even a minor infection could mean death in these dark times, I slowly course through each hair strand with the sharp razor, watching the hair fall into the sink; I wash it down the drainage pipe and apply cold water over my face. My skin, once again was smooth and free of the uncomfortable feeling of the growing facial hair, at least for another few days. Then I cleaned the razor, dried it and put it back in its proper place, I went back to the room and push aside my gear on to the ground. How long has it been since I've had a bed to sleep on? Ages I would gather, probably about 50 years or so. I just let the comfort of the bed slip in to my soul as I didn't care about the passage of time anymore.

At about 8 PM in the night I heard a _click_ from the main door. It was Moria entering her house with her usual happy smile. She looked at me as she waved some food at me; "I thought you might be lying around not doing anything," she said, still smiling. "After all, you lone wanderers do seem like the type to stay indoors most of the time when you don't have anything to do," she continued giggling slightly to herself. She brought the food over as I got up, for some reason I couldn't bring myself to look her in the eye. My heart started to beat faster and faster, my chest felt heavy. I instinctively gripped it as Maria out of concern asked, "Are you okay?" and she started to reach out for my arm. But I shied away from her touch.

"Sorry" I spoke, trying to remain calm; this pain in my chest was too much. Why am I feeling this? The only time I ever felt like this before was when I was with 'her'… When I spent those happy moments with her…when I looked at her with love gleaming in my eyes…wait...am I falling for this woman? Is it because she looks just like her? What the hell is wrong with me?! I can't love a woman just because they look like 'her', and I know they will never accept me for who I truly am now. At least not after my mutation, my change; I shake my head trying to rid myself of such thoughts.

Isn't love a mysterious thing? Sometimes people are meticulous enough to plan it, while sometimes it's just at first sight; so which one am I? The first sight one or is this just a fantasy of my mind? Even if I do feel love, it doesn't mean I can attain it, not with what I'm right now, not ever with what I'm. The only thing I clearly have seen ever since the nuclear fallout was death all around me, I've lived while others have fallen, I saw my friends pass on before I did, I've seen strangers pass on before I would, when it should be me dying...immortality in a sense some called it.

A curse is what it truly is.

I ate in silence as Maria went about her business. Once I finished eating, the fatigue again set in, living this long doesn't make you stronger, it makes you mentally tired. It makes you wish for death even more and more every time I would recall the fallout; I just want to lie down. That's all I want, rest and let sleep cover me in its blissful peace, the only respite I ever got in this curse.

**(A/N: Betaed by me, Quwack! Wow, both of the Wanderers are falling for lunatics… XD Enjoy. Oh, AND REVIEW BEFORE I #$% YOUR $# INTO $#% PUDDING!**Mash, pie, rice)**

**Monty: Hope you all enjoyed that chapter, so gets a little deeper into the character's dark personality as well as some light shed on a possible romantic interest. As Quwack already said, a lunatic lol, I personally would like to see how I make the romance work between the two especially with the character of my LW. Next chapter will be Quwack's LW and the one after that will be mind, in my next written chapter, I'll go into my LW's history and shed more light on the fact why I refer to him as a monster and 'her'. Hope you're all enjoying the show thus far =).**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Here is chapter four in our fan-fiction. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: We own no rights to Fallout; they belong to their respective owner(s) Bethesda.**

About an hour later, the Lone Wanderer, Veronica, and EDE (who decided to rejoin them) were walking to Novac.

"So… No Bark Noonan? You sure he's accurate?"

The Wanderer shrugged. "Noonan's been around. Might've stayed in Crazyland for a while, but he's the guy to go to for obscure info that nobody else can give."

They walked on in silence for a while, until the Scribe asked another question. "Do you think we can get Boone to join our _amazing_ adventure?"

"Maybe."

"Just _what_ are we looking for, anyway?"

"Cass heard something about a door to the past and future or something like that."

"A door to the past and future? What, like a time machine?"

"I don't know Veronica."

There was another long silence.

"Hey EDE, put on the radio?"

The little robot obliged, and soon the pair was listening to a famous ranger taking down Texas Red in Agua Fria.

Well, Veronica was worrying about people seeing her hair, and the Wanderer was immersed deep in his own thoughts while scanning the horizon for threats.

After a few hours of walking, it was sunset, and the trio had arrived at the Mojave outpost.

"Should we stop here? It's getting dark."

"Nah, we should camp somewhere further down the road. Ruins of Nipton, maybe."

"Sounds good. Less of a chance of people being there."

He grinned. "Less of a chance of people seeing your hair, too."

That earned him a punch in the shoulder.

And they continued walking across the barren wastes, coming within half a mile of what used to be Nipton.

"EDE, scout ahead and see if anyone had the same idea we did," the Lone Wanderer said to the robot, which then sped of rather fast.

Less than a minute later, his Pip Boy received a message that read: "4 Prisoners, Dynamite, Rifles. Proceed with caution."

"Well Veronica, it's time to go into town and beat the crap outta some Powder Assholes."

Her (_perfect_) face lit up brighter than a Christmas tree. "Yes! I get to punch stuff!"

"I can just imagine," He switched to an incredibly stupid voice, " 'I'd hit that!' Que you punching his head off."

"Ha!"

"Race you there?"

"Lets."

About 3 minutes later, they were crouching on the outskirts of the town.

"So, I go in there punching while you snipe like a wussy bitch does?"

"…I don't know why, but I'm going to slap Veronica," said Boone randomly as he looked through his scope.

"…Nah, that would probably get me killed by a very angry Lone Wanderer."

"… No, you stay here and pout while I stab them."

Veronica looked aghast. "What?!" Her face looked so priceless.

"Our children are one day going to ask you, 'What was the worst day of your life? Was it when you lost everything you had in a gamble, or saw your friend die in your arms or something like that?' And you'll say, 'No, it was the day when the Lone Wanderer didn't allow me to _kill people_.'"

Veronica smirked. "Hmm, 'Our children'? Already talking about that, hmm?"

His cheeks flushed about 50 shades of red, his eyes widened to the size of Jupiter, and his jaw practically fell to the ground. "Wh-wha? I—

Veronica made a dramatic sigh, then smiled mischievously. "Man, and I thought Christians believed in getting married before doing the deed."

The Wanderer slammed his foot down in the kind of childish rage he could only show in front of 3 people. "I did NOT mean it that way!" He yelled. "Stop laughing!"

She was rolling on the ground laughing by then. "Oh my god, you should have seen your face! Priceless, I tell you! Priceless!"

The sound of a hammer being cocked came from behind them. Shit, the Gangers had heard them. "So is the face of a person whose got a gun trained on the—

The Lone Wanderer whipped around, pulling out his 1911, aimed, and in less than 2 seconds had fired 5 shots into the convicts.

Two lay dead with bullets in their skulls, the other was clutching his knee in pain.

The Wanderer lowered his gun. "Look, I'm going to let you go, but…" He stopped when he caught sight of something on the man's arm.

Smiley faces, tattooed on his arm. 5 of them.

He stepped forward, raised his pistol, and fired a round into the man's skull.

"Fucking rapist," breathed the Wanderer.

Veronica got up. "Why, did he have smiley faces?"

He nodded.

Without a word, they set about burning the bodies, as there was no way in Heaven or in Hell they were taking time to bury those piles of shit.

After dowsing the bodies with the alcohol found around the fire in the middle of town, they lit the bodies on fire thanks to EDE's laser, and a terrible stench filled the air.

"Well," said Veronica as she watched the pyre, "We aren't sleeping here, are we?"

"Nope." The Lone Wanderer got up. "We should probably get moving. I know you're probably tired…" He trailed off.

She dismissed it with a wave of her hand. "It's fine. The sooner we get to Novac, the better."

He sighed. "Thanks."

And thus, the two set off into the night.

It was sunrise by the time the trio had reached the famed town of the dinosaur.

"Hello, Reptar," Greeted the Lone Wanderer with a smile when he saw the dino (who was clearly NOT named Reptar).

He glanced over, and saw Veronica smiling too.

Which just made him smile like an idiot. Which made him want to slap himself.

Almost immediately, the two went to the gift shop to get a hotel room while EDE just hovered around.

"Hey Cliff," said the Wanderer as he walked into the dinosaur.

"Howdy. Here to buy any souvenirs?"

He shook his head. "A hotel room. We haven't slept for nearly a day."

He handed him the keys. "Room 13, no charge for Lone Wanderers."

"Thanks Cliff."

As they walked out, he realized something. "V, you managed to not freak out when someone saw your hair! Congrats!"

She raised an eyebrow. "What?" Then it hit her. "… Damnit!" She snatched the bandana off his head, unfurled it, and wore it like a head wrap.

"...Give. Me. Back. My Bandana."

"Nope!" She said as she took the keys and ran into the hotel room.

When he walked in, he could hear Veronica in the bathroom, admiring her new look.

"Jeez, I can see why you wear this. It makes me look like Rosie the Riveter or something."

She walked back into the bedroom. "Does it?"

Just then, his Pip Boy lit up. On it was a message from EDE.

"Wait… Is she wearing your bandana?" He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Oh my god… She is, isn't she?" Asked the text on the screen.

"Dammit, EDE."

"What is it?" Asked Veronica, trying to look at the Pip Boy screen.

"Nothing that's important. EDE just pissed off somebody's big-horners. Again."

"You realize I can hear you, right?"

"Goodnight EDE." He shut off the microphone and jumped on the couch.

Veronica went on the bed.

A few minute passed.

"…Why don't you call me Ron or Ronnie?"

"…What?"

"Everyone else does."

"Does what? I didn't hear you."

"Call me Ron or Ronnie. Why don't you?

"I… Never really thought about that. I guess you never really stuck me as a 'Ron' or 'Ronnie'."

"You do realize that those are the nicknames for Veronica, right?"

"…I'd rather call you, 'One who brings Victory'."

Veronica sat up. "You know what my name means?"

"Yeah. So what?"

"…Nothing. How do you sleep in that?"

"In what? My armor?"

"Yeah. How?"

"I got used to it. In the wastes, you don't have the luxury to sleep in your boxers." He paused. "Damn, I miss my jumpsuit."

"Why?"

"I don't know, nostalgia? Since you took my bandana…"

"Oh hush, you. We should be getting to sleep."

"Right."

About 7 hours later, the Wanderer was having his breakfast in the dino's mouth and was chatting with Manny, who had made amends with his long time friend Boone after they helped a certain Lone Wanderer break up a slave auction.

"So, you're here to see Nobark?"

"Yep. He might have some info that—

Just then, EDE had to fly up, beeping wildly.

Manny raised an eyebrow. "That little bot speaks in Morse code?"

He nodded.

"…Your little robot is saying that Veronica wore your bandana to bed last night. Is that true? Damn, that's kinky."

He groaned. "She stole it off my head after I made a crack about her hair. You know how she is."

"What, with her hair? What is it, 'For Your Eyes Only', along with a few other things? Don't worry man, I understand," he said with a gigantic grin on his face. "That's the case with a lot of men and women, although, they usually get married first…"

He banged his head against the wall in frustration. "Look, it couldn't be that way if I wanted it to. Which I _don't_," he said with a clear emphasis on the 'don't'.

"Aww crap, I forgot to stock up on food! Crap!" The Wanderer ran out the door.

Manny noticed that he left the box of Dandy Boy Apples right where they were.

Since he was still hungry….

"Cliff, how many Fancy Lads do you have for sale?"

The man chuckled. "I don't deal in that kind of stuff, Wanderer."

He rolled his eyes. "You know I mean the snack cakes."

"6 and they're 0.5 caps each."

"Deal!" The Wanderer pulled out 3 stacks of 10 caps each and put them on the counter. He then put another one next to them. "Keep the change, and have a nice day." Scooping up the delicious confections, he headed to their room.

"Veronica!" He called out as he opened the door.

He got a groan in response.

"We're going to visit Old Man Noonan now, get up!"

"Ugh… Some people actually like their sleep, unlike you."

"There's snack cakes in it for you."

She practically flew out of bed. "Well, I love you too!"

His heart skipped a beat. _What? Did she just…?_

_No… She didn't mean it_ he realized with a sigh.

"What?" She asked.

"Nothing, Let's go."

"Right," said Veronica, snatching up one of the boxes as she went along and cloaking.

'Why did I get my hopes up all of a sudden? Could I… No. I can't… Does she? No….' The Wanderer thought to himself. 'Then why has she been flirting with me so much as of late?'

"Grr…"

"What?"

"Nothing."

(A/N) And…. ITS DONE!

Yes, the LW is totally in love with the lesbian scribe who has a habit of flirting with him.

Yes, I am probably insane. Thanks for asking! Peace out, children!

~Quwack

**Monty: Next chapter covers the history of my LW and this mysterious curse I kept on mentioning in the previous chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Here is chapter five in our fan-fiction. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: We own no rights to Fallout; they belong to their respective owner(s) Bethesda.

"Japan learned from the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that the tragedy wrought by nuclear weapons must never be repeated and that humanity and nuclear weapons cannot coexist. "

~ Daisaku Ikeda

Year 2077,

The sun shone brightly, giving off the radiant warmth we all fed off of and that warmth captivated us with its beauty. The water sprinkler sprinkled loudly in my front garden as I watched the drops of water hit the grass. The grass was alive, and so were we...I'm still alive is what I would tell myself as I would look at the clean pure water and the radiating warmth of the sun. I'm alive… and in love.

She stands outside watching over the kids as they play with one another in the pool. A loud crackling noise pierces my ears, I curse under my breath. I look towards the radio and turn the frequency down a bit. News of the latest civilian security protocol comes through as they mention procedures of how to get to what they called "The Vaults" in the case of war declaration. A siren would go off in every part of the city, people would rush to the vaults and we would lock ourselves away inside to ensure humanity survives.

Today was meant to be like any other day, but today...something felt different, too different for comfort. I couldn't get rid of this painful feeling in my chest as I grip it tightly in my hand. What is this feeling telling me? That something bad is going to happen? Erika, the one I love and the one I've come to deeply care for looks back at me. She sees me gripping my chest, without thinking she shouts out my name, the kids are scared now too. The three of them coming running through the door, surround me in their reassuring warmth as I feel captivated by it. They hold me with a gentle care as I simply stand holding my chest. "What's wrong?" Erika would ask me but all I could do was make an expression of cowardice.

"I can't shake this pain...this feeling" I would say as I feel the stinging becoming stronger and stronger in my chest.

"What feeling?!" she asked me worriedly, it was clear she was wondering what could put me in so much pain.

"Big...something big is coming" I spoke with fear on the brim of my eyes. The children now back away, falling to the floor as they begin to cry. Erika would stand between two distressed parties wondering which one she should handle, but I let go of her knowing the kids come first. She bends down trying to soothe their crying, but the more she tries to soothe their pain, the more pain I start to feel in my head now. 'What is this feeling?' I ponder as I back away from the scene a bit; I sit down on the chair and breathe heavily. "Wh-what's going on?" I ask out loud as I feel my head going dizzy.

Erika looks back towards me, her face sells the expression of confusion, her eyes say fear; she is afraid, as she also feels what the kids feel. She feels afraid of what I'm feeling, of how I'm acting. She feels afraid for the sting in my chest as she doesn't want to lose me; she doesn't want to sit there helplessly watching all this transpire in front of her eyes.

_Beeeuuuuoooo!_

A loud noise piercing my ears went off, a siren indicating emergency. It was here...What the radio talked about before, what it always seemed to talk about was now happening! No, no, no! This couldn't be happening! I look around in panic, get up and gather whatever I can and take hold of Erika's hand, telling her to keep the kids close and we ran out into the street. I look up while holding Erika's hand tightly, not wanting to lose her in the midst of this chaos. I frequently look back towards her and the kids.

The sky was shaded red, clouds gathered like a storm. Lightning raged inside the clouds, slowly turning from the brilliant blue to the deathly red lightning. Radiation was coming, it was big and it was headed our way. 'Did a nuke go off?' I wondered as I ran towards the siren. That's where the vaults would be located, that's where everyone was heading. Little did I know at the time, it was a mass panic created by animals fighting amongst themselves. Fistfights broke out amidst the shoving, and it soon turned into a free for all fight to the vault. Only those strong enough to survive would be able to enter the vault, and only those strong enough to live on in a scarred planet can enter. Are we strong willed like that? Are we strong enough for that? Erika grips my hand tighter than it was before, she is scared, the same as me, but then, who wouldn't be, right? Everywhere there is massive panic, violence and fear. But it's the fear that's driving this violence and it's this fear that's causing us to become more like wild animals than those of understanding.

Thunder roars through the storm clouds as red lightning hits the ground, it fries the light pole in its path as it continues its rampage of destruction. People burn, they're on fire, red flames burns away at their skin and radiation slowly eats them from the inside. Then when it finishes its deed, it leaves nothing but ashes and small skeletal pieces. Death roars through the streets of New Jersey; I can feel my heart beat pounding hard against my chest. Sweat builds up on my hands, I feel Erika's hand trembling, her hand was cold; she was already losing her will as the children stared up at her, afraid for their mother.

This isn't right, why is it people want to fight? Do we learn nothing from our history? World war one wasn't anything to be proud of nor was the second one. Now World War three happens, a spiteful rain of radiation comes down with a heavy blow of hatred, halleluiah. This is how the world ends I suppose, whenever we would give into our violent instincts, we would always scar Earth and indefinitely hurt other species in the process too. And now we've done it, the last straw is gone; no other species could be expected to survive all this radiation.

Now I can see a dust storm heading through the streets, pushing past all the people I look back upwards towards the sky, lighting comes down striking close to my left. I fall to the ground as I push Erika forward telling her to run and take the kids to the vault. She hesitates for a second but I wouldn't be able to bear her blood staining my hands because of my clumsiness. I shout at her, she responds and takes the kids away far out of my sight. I sit there on the ground, looking around me...chaos, hatred and death is all that I could see. Wasn't it that humanity was supposed to be better than this? Wasn't it that humanity was supposed to use its intelligence for the betterment of every species' way of life? _Bam! Bam!_ And I now hear gun shots go off, and I look in the direction of the shots. It was the police; they were gunning down civilians, why are we so distorted? I thought as their intentions were clear, they wanted to ensure spots for themselves inside the vault. Lesser the people would mean lesser the competition. _Bam! Bam! Bam!_ More shots would go off as I sit there witnessing it all.

The police would then get back in their car, drive through the massive crowd; running over everyone, I look upwards as the clouds start to heat up bright red, almost as if they were on fire. Lightning strikes nearly every part of New Jersey, thunder roars wildly as a raindrop hits my cheek. I rub the drop of water off of my cheek and look upwards again, rain starts to pour down. The Earth is trying to cool off, but the radiation from the other hits heating up the atmosphere is clearly winning. It feels almost as though my skin is on fire. Like it would burn and peel of any second, kind of like a bad sun burn.

Wait, what am I doing here sitting down on the ground helplessly? Erika's waiting for me. The kids are waiting for me, I've to get back I would tell myself as I pick myself off the ground and start running. I run without stopping, I run absorbing all the chaos around me, I run knowing I'm the embodiment of what's caused this chaos: human. I grit my teeth together feeling disgust at the fact that I'm human, the same species that created nuclear weapons. Why couldn't we learn to live without weapons? Why did our ancestors have to create them in the first place?! Was it for survival? That's debatable; were we not such a violent species from the get-go then we would not be here like this right now.

_Splash!_ Water raises and falls with every step I take in the puddles around me, my shoes are covered in dirt and mud from the potholes. I look up towards the sky, open my mouth and let some water pour in as I feel its refreshing qualities. Sweat pours down my face mixing with the water; I feel heat and cool mixing together as I start to feel refreshed in this feeling. Bright red lights come into my view now, a pole stands high in the air near a ground opening, manmade and clearly leading to the vault as there was a massive rush of crowd in there. Suddenly I heard my name being called out as I turned to look to my side; Erika was being surrounded by a gang of police officers who had her pinned up against the wall. They were slowly cutting through her shirt, slowly working their way down to her long silky skirt. "I always wondered what rape would feel like!" shouted one of them as I started to run towards her. One of them noticed my approach, took out their gun and took aim. I leapt to the side, hearing the bullet graze past me. 'This isn't right...aren't they supposed to protect us?' the thought ran through my mind like an annoying song repeating itself over and over again.

My body is moving by itself, I quickly grab hold of the gun, disarm the cop of his gun and break his trigger finger with great force. The man tries to hold in the pain but I step on his hand in my own act of wild cruelty, thus increasing his pain as he screeches out in pain. The crowd of civilians are too distracted by their own panic to care about one human cowering in pain before my feet. The kids hide by one of the dumpsters as I notice their eyes peering out at the scene, the other officer continues to cut through Erika's dress. He cuts her top long shirt and long skirt in half, slowly removing it from her body as he licks her skin. I feel anger boiling in my head, its screaming to get out and kill him; he is defiling her and most of all he is defiling humanity with his disgustful act. The second officer from the gang rushes towards me with an electrically charged baton as I then take a hold of his hand and _throw_ him over me. He lands hitting the ground hard on his head, his skull cracks as I would hear the crushing blow inflicting its vengeance filled damage. The officer starts to unzip his pants as he slowly runs his hand in between her legs.

"Now you're going to be mine" he speaks in a deranged tone.

Why am I just standing here watching? I take the baton, and rear back, the front end glowing brightly, "Hey you bastard, over here!" I shout as he looks back letting go of Erika once he notices the baton. I throw it at his face, his face gets crushed as his nose moves inwards with his tongue shooting outwards and his eyeballs dislodging themselves from its sockets. Blood shoots out and my moment of victory, my moment of wild adrenaline ceases. One of his eyes roll towards me, the pupil faced towards me, staring up at me and I raise my boot over it.

"What are you staring at?" was the last thing I said before taking my deep decent in to insanity as I crush the eyeball. The liquids from its insides splatter everywhere with the eye remaining stuck to my boots. This was the first time I ever killed someone, the time I betrayed my own ideals. Erika lies on the ground helpless, I get some clothes for her from a nearby store, and she can't even look me in the eye now. Is it because I killed two people in front of her? The third one of the gang was now long gone, I hand her the clothes as she would look away; in privacy she put them on, coming out all the while holding herself tightly. I try to reach out for her hand but she backs away, or is it because she was touched by another man that she can't face me now? Why now of all times? Dammit! As I was trying to reach out to her and she continuously denied my touch, a woman came up to us asking if everything was alright. Why would someone come to help others in a time of panic? But her eyes spoke of kindness and so I quickly left Erika in her care and saw the two depart until they were no longer visible in my sight. I rush towards the kids, they were no longer there, 'Where are they?' I think to myself looking around frantically.

"All civilians should now have made the necessary precautions in evacuating to the vaults, the vaults will now close" spoke a man's voice over the intercom attached to a pole with a bright red light. The rain's water felt hotter and hotter now. I look up at the sky and it had a fiery blaze in it, it was on fire due to all the radiation. There was a fire storm brewing up above in the skies, I then heard a child whimpering, and I looked in the direction it came from, my children. I ran towards them and held them tightly in my arms, thanking anything, anyone for the fact that they're alright; the vaults were now shut, so what hope do we have for survival now? So why did I want to so desperately find my children? Was it because I didn't want to die alone? Or was it because I wanted to assure myself that if I've them by my side, I'll have a reason to continue to search for a way to find safety.

_Ssszzz_

I looked behind and saw a small sized fire on the ground getting put out by the rain. I looked upwards again as I held my children close in my arms, fire was raining down along with the rain, most of it barely hit the ground as it got disintegrated in the air by the rain, but those that did hit did some damage. It was raining fire, I soon knew they would come falling, the nukes. And to my greatest dismay, I was right...

Hell on Earth is here.

"I'm scared daddy" speaks my youngest daughter as she looks at me with pleading eyes. "We will get through this honey" I try to reassure her, but I know I'm not assuring anyone with my quivering voice that could break apart at any minute. I run towards the opening in the ground leading to the vault. Slowly the lights in the cave begin to go out as the power is seemingly diverted to the vault's other functions and now we run in darkness. I let the children down as I take my cellphone and turn it on, I use it as my light source to get a handle on my surroundings, I see a huge metal like door and prompt the kids to run towards it while I follow them. They reach the door and start knocking hard in the hopes someone may respond, no one answers; all that remains is silence. The only thing we can hear is our hard breathing as we continue to panic and knock on the door, "Don't do this to me now," I spoke out loud without even realizing. This made my oldest lose hope. She stopped as she fell to her knees, letting a tear escape her eyes.

"Don't give up yet!" I shout trying to give her the encouraging push she needed, maybe I was just trying to give myself that encouraging push. Someone please just open! Why won't anyone answer?! And then I soon find my youngest daughter giving up as well as she goes to her older sister's side. Sits down, holds her older sister's hand and hugs her. The air around me suddenly starts to feel hotter than it was five minutes ago; I look back as a red cloud of dust is headed our way, glowing brightly of death. So then...this is it.

Following my children's actions, I sit down on the ground beside them, holding them tightly. This was the final destination, death. It's getting closer and closer, its edges are surrounded by a ring of fire, melting the rock around it, what hope would we have to survive something like this? But wait, is the fire slowly disappearing, I squint my eyes and watch as the fire is left behind but the cloud of radiated dust now increases its approach, hitting us hard with its brunt force. I fall back hitting the door and hit the ground hard, I can't get up...losing strength slowly...everything seems so bleak. I see my daughters falling back away from me as they lie there motionless, I try to reach out for them, to get up or at least crawl to be at their side, but nothing now comes to my head but darkness. It slowly surrounds my vision as I now see nothing but darkness.

Present day...

"AHHH!"

I jumped, shaken out of my unwelcome sojourn into the past. Remembering that time not only made me depressed about the fact humanity is still alive and able to commit their evil deeds, but also for the fact that _I_ am still alive. But I guess that's contradictory, because at the end of every fight I would tell myself, 'I'm still alive, and that's reason enough for me to keep on fighting' is what any of my enemies taking their last few breaths would hear.

I rush towards the source of the scream and, without thinking, burst through the door with my pistol pointed out. Maybe bursting in without thinking wasn't such a good idea after all, I pondered as I saw Moria Brown standing naked before me in the shower. I should probably get the hell outta here if I don't want to die where I stand because that's what her eyes are saying. With twitching eyebrows I slowly scoot my way out of the washroom, immediately closing the door behind to which she kind of took as an insult.

"I'm sorry I'm so terrible to look at!" she yelled. Oh my god, she was standing there naked in front of me, what's wrong with her? Wait, what the hell is wrong with me?! Of course she would be naked when taking a shower, isn't that how everyone showers? My eyebrow continuing to twitch with a huge blush taking over my cheeks, I go back to my room, sit down and hit my head against my fist.

Mind on the job buddy! Mind on the job! You're getting paid to go get an artifact, I looked over at my pip boy for the visual image and all it displayed was an old chest, "I'm supposed to carry this thing back here" I questioned out loud as I let out a sigh of frustration, just how would I get a chest back here to Megaton? I looked back at the number of caps I had and the caps she was offering, not like I had any other choice; I had to get this job done if I wanted to be able to live off this wasteland planet we still call Earth.

I got out of the bed and wearily went to the locker. I found that whenever I had such bad dreams, I couldn't sleep properly. I took out my shotgun, Ak-47, my trusty knife to be at my side and some spare ammo along with a few grenades. Packing everything properly, I took my cowboy hat and exited the room. Moria stood outside and a huge blush immediately took over. My eyes decided to look anywhere but her. Why am I imagining her naked still? She has her overalls on now, so it should be fine to look at her, shouldn't it? She walked up towards me with the razor in her hand, "What is this? This isn't my hair" she spoke angrily, yet in the same childish tone of hers. "

Umm...I don't know?" I replied trying to sound as innocent as possible. "Yeah right, I know you had hair on you mister and I also know that you used this to shave them off last night" she said totally busting through my cover.

"Well why would a woman need a razor in the first place?" I asked as her face immediately turned red, "You don't ask us that" she spoke throwing the razor at me.

"Hey that's dangerous!"

"I'll show you dangerous!" she replied as she chased me down to my room, got the jump on me but I soon overpowered her with my strength. She let out a sigh of defeat; I could feel her body heat rise as mine did so as well. I could feel her breath getting heavy, those childish smiles of hers now disappearing into a serious face, 'Did I just jump the gun here?' I wondered to myself as my breath started to deepen to. I lay still on top of her, holding her down...showing my strength, my dominance over her fragile form. I slowly ran my hand through her untied hair, "Your hair is so silky" I spoke without even realizing it. And I didn't even think about what I was doing, about the consequences of my actions here. She is my employer; she shouldn't be anything anymore than that. But we're both human aren't we? No, she is human, in a sense I've transcended mortality, and so does that make me human?

Wait, yes it does, I can still die from bullets, knife wounds and internal bleeding. "I think I know why women shave their skins...such smoothness in it" I spoke as I slowly ran my hand over her arm and she started to feel a blush coming over her cheeks, I could tell because she looked away from me. I turned her head back towards me; I started to approach her face, concentrated on her lips. It was wild animalistic instincts driving me, no self-control left as all I wanted to do was crave for those lips. Our noses nearly touched and I suddenly froze.

_Erika_

Her name crossed my mind as I stayed frozen there. I then realized what I was doing and how wrong it was, I can't have love, not ever again, not after what happened to my body. I can't bear the thought of seeing the people around me die off before me ever again. I slowly got off of Moria and apologized; she remained silent as she got up slowly placing her hand over her lips. She looked away from me when I turned towards her, just like the day Erika had looked away from me when I killed that gang of police officers.

"Do you hate me?" I asked without realizing the words that escaped my mouth. Maybe I was just trying to imagine Erika sitting there in place of Moria, to answer a question never asked. Moria turned her whole body away from me as I felt great signs of regret taking over my already tormented soul. I went out of the room and reached for the door, feeling my stomach growl I thought to grab something to eat quickly. Thankfully due to the changes made to my body on the "judgement" day, I'm no longer affected by radiation, so I can eat whatever it is I want to, one of the perks that came along with this curse I guess. I reached for the door handle as a woman's hand suddenly tugged at my other hand, Moria held it tightly asking, "You haven't eaten yet have you?" and I shook my head. She reached for the house keys on the side table close to the door, led me outside, closed the door and said, "Let's go grab a quick bite to eat."

We sat at the local diner, near the atomic bomb in the middle of Megaton. I had ordered noodles for breakfast as she ordered the Refined Punga fruit. One of the more expensive products but less deadly in radiation, she asked if I was going to be okay with the noodles as they were known for their radiation but I assured her it will be fine. What quickly sparked my curiosity was how did this little diner manage to get a Refined Punga fruit? Aren't these supposed to be rare? I dismissed the thought, pushing it to the back of my mind. After a few minutes of silent waiting, our meals arrived. Moria ate hers in silence as I tried to think of things to talk about, but nothing would come across my mind which was interesting enough to talk about.

"You know you surprised me today" Moria broke the silence.

"...I'm sorry" was all that I could say.

"I'm not," she said in return.

I was left confused as she picked up on it, "I'm glad" she spoke in a much gentler tone I didn't even know she was capable of. Slowly she took my hand in hers and said, "I'm glad to know love can be wild and crazy that it doesn't have to be planned always; it can just happen" and my eyes widened, 'She felt love for me?' I thought. But this isn't right now is it? She is my employer; I'm a cursed freak who is meant to live on for ages and record humanity's sins with these eyes. I don't have any right to love, happiness or joy; I don't have any right to anything that would make me happy, only thing left for me is seeing the ones I love pass away before me, to die long before my time would come. I don't have any right to this love! I would keep telling myself this but my heart tells me something different as it beats harder and harder with every second Moria keeps her hand in contact with mine. I finished my noodles as she volunteered to pick up the bill, I said no, and she protested. We ended up splitting going half and half on the bill.

Few minutes later we stood at the huge door leading to the outside wastelands, "This is it" she spoke.

"Yeah..." I gave a simple reply.

"Off to work then" she tried to sound cheery, but obviously she was too concerned for my safety; so this is how people felt in these times. When one would step out into the harshness of the wasteland, the other would feel worried to the point of death. I felt happy knowing someone was here to worry about me, that I won't be just like some other sap in the wastelands, taking my last breaths knowing no one would miss me...but this also gave birth to the possibility of sadness in Moria's life. I walked out the doors and looked back at her one last time before I left, her smile was there but only slightly visible...her worries hadn't subsided and now I had someone I needed to come back to. The door closed as I felt my heart sink, I'm engaging in human affairs, but then again I'm a human to, maybe just maybe she can tell me why I'm still alive. Maybe she can tell about my place in the world; but will she understand my curse? I ponder as I walk towards my destination.

Few hours later I finally reach it, the deserted town of Old Olney, or at least I thought it was deserted. A loud scream wails through the sky piercing my ears, I knew this place felt familiar somehow. This was the town travelers were told to avoid if we valued our life, this was the town where they say Death's demons roam the streets. This is the home of the Deathclaws.

A/N:

Monty: Again quite a long chapter, I dived into the beginning of my LW's back story. I'll reveal more in my LW's next chapter as he fights through the town of the Death-claws. Should be an exciting one to write and read =). Hope you're all enjoying the show thus far and that the two different LW are creating for some interesting entertainment. Next chapter will be Quwack's LW.

Quwack: Which will be less dark. Now with more Boone! I need sleep.


	6. Chapter 6: Special Message

**Hi everyone, this isn't a brand new chapter for this story but an update message. So what's happening is that the next chapter is supposed to be Quwack's, but I haven't received it yet and it's been about 3 weeks I believe. So I apologize for all of this, I've been constantly trying to get a hold of him to get constant updates on his next chapter but I haven't been getting any replies =(. I will continue to try and establish contact with him, both of us appreciate the readership that has been established through this story and I appreciate the patience you've all shown thus far. If nothing does seem to work out...I might have to continue the story on my own from both the character's perspectives.**


	7. Chapter 7: Discontinued

**Notice:**

**Hey everyone, I know this story has been on a long long hiatus. The reason for that is that my co-author for this fanfic has been out of contact for a long while now. I've tried to contact him over and over again and I'm not receiving any replies from him, so for now I'm putting this story as discontinued due to the simple fact that I can't write a happy type of character that WandereroftheWastes88 created; reason for that being is that his character is already established from another one of his fanfics and I think only the author will be able to write that character well. Whereas for my own character, kind of sad to not see a resolution happening but that's how it goes I suppose. I might make a separate fanfic for Fallout 3 with all my Wanderer's chapters in there and expand on his story with the ideas I have for him. I'm really sorry to say that we can't continue this fanfic as it showed a lot of promise as a co-written fanfiction.**

**I would like to thank InstaMash however for continually sticking with every chapter and reviewing it. Thanks, we appreciated the time you took to give us the reviews. If there is a new separate fanfic, I'll be sure to post up a new notice on here.**

**Thank you to all the readers thus far,**

**Monty**


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